Nuclear Hotseat Host Libbe HaLevy Queries Arnie Gundersen about San Onofre

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About This Interview

Libbe HaLevy, host of the blog/radio show Nuclear Hotseatm interviews Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen regarding the ongoing steam generator issues at Southern California Edison’s San Onofre nuclear power reactor. How and when did the problems with the steam generators begin? What are the potential dangers of restarting the plant this summer, as Edison would like to do, which would be prior to the completion of a full root cause analysis?

Al Stahler and Arnie Gundersen Discuss San Onofre Steam Generator Failures

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About This Interview

Al Stahler hosts Arnie Gundersen on his KVMR-FM, Nevada City, CA radio show Soundings for a technical review of the San Onofre Steam Generator Failures.

Why are the recently installed and newly designed steam generators at Southern California Edison’s San Onofre nuclear power plant failing? What impact did design engineering changes made to the steam generators have upon the widespread tube failures? Why are the same failures happening at Units 2 and 3? Al questions why the old generators at San Onofre lasted for 28-years of operation while the newly installed generators are failing in less than 2-years. Arnie details the significant design and fabrication changes made to the new steam generators rather than the like-for-like replacement Edison claimed. Arnie concludes that steam generators failed due to the interior alterations designed and fabricated in the new generators.

San Onofre Cascading Steam Generator Failures Created by Edison

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San Onofre Cascading Steam Generator Failures Created by Edison

Imprudent Design and Fabrication Decisions Caused Leaks in 2012. Cramming 377 more tubes into each replacement generator than were in the original generators held affected reliability and safety. 

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The Worst Problems In The World

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About This Interview

Alex Smith, of Radio Ecoshock, interviews nuclear industry expert Arnie Gundersen, of Fairewinds Associates. Smith notes that the nuclear accident at Fukushima Japan is far from over as three reactors continue to meltdown. Smith adds that now there is a storm of international worry about nuclear fuel pools tottering in blown up buildings putting the whole Northern Hemisphere at risk. According to Smith, “Arnie Gundersen, a year ago, warned us here on Radio Ecoshock, and to anybody who would listen, that a world-scale catastrophe was lurking in the nuclear fuel storage pools of both reactors Three and Four, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. Why is this story finally getting wider attention, a year later?”

Gundersen on Earthfiles: Fukushima One Year Later: Not Yet Out of the Woods

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Gundersen on Earthfiles: Fukushima One Year Later: Not Yet Out of the Woods

Linda and Arnie discuss the triple meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and Japan’s energy future. They discuss the Japanese government's attempts to dilute the Daiichi contaminated waste from the Fukushima prefecture by mixing it with everyday trash, burning it, and then dumping it into Tokyo Bay and other locations around Japan.

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Arnie Gundersen on SolarIMG to discuss Fukushima Update

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About This Interview

Rick at SolarIMG hosted this interview with Arnie for an update on the situation at Fukushima Daiichi. Rick and Arnie discuss the recent discovery of incredibly high decay rates in the containment area of reactor 2 and resulting bioaccumulation, the mainstream media failures regarding this event, the lack of testing of imported products, leukemia rates in our children and grandchildren, and the debris and ocean contamination. This interview with SolarIMG is a MUST listen.

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Steam Generator Failures at San Onofre

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Steam Generator Failures at San Onofre

The Need for a Thorough Root Cause Analysis Requires No Early Restart. Fairewinds recommends that Units 2 and 3 remain shut down until a thorough Root Cause Analysis determines the cause of rapid tube failures are understood and repaired, reliability is assured, and radioactive releases are prevented.

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Tokyo Soil Samples Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The US

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Tokyo Soil Samples Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The US

While traveling in Japan several weeks ago, Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen took soil samples in Tokyo public parks, playgrounds, and rooftop gardens. All the samples would be considered nuclear waste if found here in the US. This level of contamination is currently being discovered throughout Japan. At the US NRC Regulatory Information Conference in Washington, DC March 13 to March 15, the NRC's Chairman, Dr. Gregory Jaczko emphasized his concern that the NRC and the nuclear industry presently do not consider the costs of mass evacuations and radioactive contamination in their cost benefit analysis used to license nuclear power plants. Furthermore, Fairewinds believes that evacuation costs near a US nuclear plant could easily exceed one trillion dollars and contaminated land would be uninhabitable for generations.

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